Friday 24th October

This week in English the children have been focussing understanding different types of sentences; statements, commands, exclamation sentences as well as questions. They have been challenged to write their own, focussing on what makes each sentence distinct:

· Statements give the reader information.

· Commands have imperative verbs that tell you what to do.

· Exclamation sentence have an exclamation mark at the end as well as usually starting with how or what.

· Questions end with a question mark and start with words like how, what, why, when, where.

We have also made posters and presented to the class reasons why we need to help hedgehogs because the hedgehog population is in decline. We learnt about having hedgehog highways in our garden and ensuring that we put food out for hedgehogs. We also need to look for places that the hedgehogs can shelter for the Winter.

In Maths continued our learning of addition and subtraction. We have been using the make ten strategy to add two single digit numbers together. We have been swapping between addition and subtraction, to make sure that our understanding is secure and that the children know that subtraction ids the inverse of addition.

In RE we have started our new topic of Prophecy to Promise. We have learnt about Isaiah’s prophecy about Jesus being a light.

Friday 17th October

This week in English the children have learnt what an exclamation sentence is and that they usually start with what or how. We also edited a set of instructions so that we knew what a good set should look like. The following day we wrote our own instructions on how to cross the road safely.

In Maths we focussed on subtraction. We have been looking at how we can subtract a single digit number from a two digit number. The focus has been making 10 first. This week we have been using a number line to help us. First we draw our number line, then make 10, then partition the subtrahend and lastly subtract the 2nd part. We also solved some subtraction word problems.

In RE we learnt about the symbols of baptism. We wrote about the meaning of the symbols and how they are special to become part of God’s family.

Friday 10th October

This week in English the children have been focussing on poetry as well as grammar. They have edited their poems from last week, learnt all the rules for adding the suffix ‘ing’ to a verb and have also learnt the rules of how to make a word plural. The children have also explored different ways to write poetry, exploring the layout of the words on a page, e.g.,

The leaves were

F

        A

                L

                        L

                                I

                                        N

                                                G

Based upon this the children wrote a poem describing Autumn.

In Maths continued our learning of our new topic, Addition. We have been looking at how we can add two single digit numbers together. Last week we used part-part-whole models and tens frames with counters. This week the focus has been on making 10 first. This week we have been using a number line to help us. First we draw our number line, then make 10, then partition the addend thinking about how many we needed to make 10 and how many are left over (from the whole addend number) before finally adding that 2^nd part of the addend on.

In RE we have learnt about Baptism. We have re-enact a class Baptism and found out what the important symbols are.

For Black History Month we have learnt about the life of Martin Luther King. We have read the book ‘Little people Big dreams’ and remembered facts about his life.

Friday 3rd October

This week in English the children have been focussing on poetry. They have performed a hedgehog poem, creating their own actions, as well as creating other poems as a class. The children have also looked at how adjectives can make their writing more interesting and how when writing a poem, adding adjectives can be the pattern that they use to make their own poem. The children have concluded the week by writing their own short poem, using the skills that we have worked on.

In Maths we have started our new topic of Addition. We have been looking at how we can add two single digit numbers together. We have done this using part-part-whole models and tens frames with counters. The focus has been making 10 first. For example, 7+5=, we make ten first, 7+3=10, we then still have part of the 5 and we know that 3+2=5 so then we need to add the 2, 10+2=12.

In RE we continued to learn about how Catholics believe that psalms praise God. We have focused on the words from some hymns and written our own poems to praise God for creation.

In Geography we have been learning about the best places to play in our local area, looking at maps and learning about different parks in the area of Brentwood.

Friday 26th September

This week in English we have then started to explore what we think might have happened to the hedgehogs after they crossed the road to get to the park, and the children have written a short narrative describing what they think happened. We have also researched hedgehogs, found some interesting facts about them and then created a fact file all about hedgehogs.

In Maths we have been comparing numbers, moving towards comparing two-digit numbers. The children have started to use inequality symbols; = < >, and have created number sentences including these symbols. The children have also continued exploring commutativity, 35 > 21 so we know that 21 < 35. We have been practising using the phrases greater than and less than when using the inequality symbols. Eg, 35 is greater than 21, 21 is less than 35.

In RE we have been learning about Stewardship for our Catholic Social teaching. We learnt that Stewardship means caring for and looking after God’s Gifts. We wrote a letter to Canon John to explain what we are going to do to look after God’s world.

In Geography we have been finding out about the local parks in Brentwood. We have used maps to locate the parks and then found out what it is like to go there. We wrote about the good things in each park.

Friday 19th September

This week in English we have continued reading our Power of Reading book, ‘The Hodgeheg’ by Dick King Smith. We have made a character description of the main character Max, first we thought about his appearance and then his personality. We used a range of adjectives to describe him. We have also created a story map for Max and his family’s crossing across the busy road. Using this story map all the children have written their own retell of the events of the first crossing for Max!

In Maths we have continued exploring place value. We have been practiced partitioning into tens and ones using both part-part-whole models and bar models, and based upon this have been writing number sentences to go with these different models. We have also explored the concept of commutativity which is changing the order of the numbers but the result does not change. For example: 10+6=16 becomes 6+10=16.

In RE we have reflected upon the story of Noah’s Ark, focussing upon the Covenant that God made with Noah, promising not to flood the world again. The symbol of this Covenant appeared in the form of the first rainbow. WE learnt that a covenant is a promise to turn back to God. We reflected on times that we have sinned and how we have turned back to God. We wrote sorry prayers to reflect on times we have turned away from God.

In Science we have been exploring different materials and why they are made of specific materials. We found a range of objects and discussed why the material was suitable and then wrote our ideas. For example, this table is made of wood because it is strong. It is not suitable to make a metal table for school as it would be too heavy. Why don't you have a look at some objects in your house and see if you can give a reason why that object is made of that material.

Friday 12th September

This week in English we have started our new Power of Reading book, ‘The Hodgeheg’” by Dick King Smith.  We have explored sentence structure as the main character Max has a bump to the head and starts speaking in a muddled way. We wrote down the sentences in the correct order to help him. We have also acted out crossing a busy road and thought about how a small animal like a hedgehog would feel trying to cross the road with all the loud sounds around him.

In Maths we have started our new topic, Place Value. We have been exploring teen numbers and how we can partition them into tens and ones. We have practised substituting ten ones for one ten. We have also recorded our work both numerically and pictorially in our books.

In RE we have started our topic – Creation and Covenant. We have retold the story of Noah, highlighting the importance of the rainbow as a symbol of God’s promise to Noah. We learnt that this story can be found in the Old  Testament of the Bible. We created artwork to remind us of God’s promise to Noah and to remember that a promise is a covenant with God.